2011 (888-Need-Him)

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audio The Surprise In The Toy Box Popular

Transcript: Our son’s family was packing up boxes of toys and clothes to give to reservation kids for Christmas. Suddenly, our five-year-old grandson disappeared, until he re-appeared in an empty box by the front door. When Daddy asked him why he was in the box, he said, “I want to give myself.” Wow!

That’s pretty much what Christmas is all about. First, it’s about God’s only Son saying, “I will give Myself.” The Bible says, “He loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). There was no other way we could ever have our sins forgiven, which is the only way we can get to heaven. It took His dying for our sin to cancel our hell and give us His heaven.

God tells us the only way we can have what Jesus died to give us is to put your life into His hands. God doesn’t want your money or your religion or your good deeds. He wants you. He made you. He paid for you with His life. This could be your day to tell Jesus, “I want to give myself to You.” We’d love to help you begin your relationship with Him. Call us at 888-NEED HIM, because nobody loves you like He does.

audio Finally Good News Popular

Transcript: You’ve got to think twice before you turn on the news these days. Who knows what the latest bomb shell is going to be? We’re traveling where there’s no map! We need some good news, and that’s exactly what Christmas is all about. The angel who announced Jesus’ birth said, “I bring you good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10). And it’s really good news in these times when so many problems seem unfixable, and so many things are spinning out of anyone’s control.

Here’s the Christmas news: “Today a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). See, Jesus is the Leader, the Messiah, the Rescuer this world is starved for and that we’re starved for.

So many things in our own lives we can’t fix, or change, or control. But He can! He came to fix what was most broken of all–our relationship with the God who made us. But it took Jesus giving His life to pay for our sin, and then He walked out of His grave, proving that He has power to change your life and your eternity.

He’s ready to come into your life this very day. And if you want Him to, call us at 888-NEED HIM, because you really do need Him.

audio Soldiers Coming Home Popular

Transcript: For a lot of soldiers and families this Christmas, that song “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” has never meant more. Because the troops are coming back from Iraq, and they’ll be safely home at last.

There’s something special about a homecoming; especially a homecoming at Christmas, which may be what God is wanting for you. Because having a love relationship with Him is the home your heart’s been looking for your whole life. The problem is, according to the Bible, “…your sins have separated you from your God” (Isaiah 59:2). So many times, we’ve put us first and shoved God to the side. So we’re empty…and lonely…and forever restless…feeling lost.

But Jesus came to make a way home. Free for us; costing Him everything. As the Bible says, “He died for sinners to bring you safely home to God” (1 Peter 3:18). So, when you grab Jesus as your Rescuer from your sins, the wall comes down and your heart is home. If you’re ready for that, call us at 888-NEED HIM, and make this the Christmas when you’re finally home.

audio The Gift He Didn't Want Popular

Transcript: When my friend Rich was about seven, his parents really splurged on his Christmas gift. They got him a big boy bike! What a moment that Christmas morning when they wheeled it into the living room, only to have Rich say, “Thanks, but I don’t want it.”

Wow! That boy rejected the best gift his parents could give him. I can only imagine how they felt. Or, more importantly, how God feels when we do that to Him. Because Christmas is when He gave the most expensive gift He could possibly give. As the Bible says, “He spared not His Son but delivered Him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). Jesus came to die alone on a cross to pay for every sin we’ve ever done; to take our hell so we could go to His heaven.

The Bible says, “The gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23). It’s a gift becausethere’s nothing we can do to earn heaven. The biggest mistake of your life, I think, would be to say “Thanks, but I don’t want it.” This Christmas, you need to decide what you’re going to do with this greatest gift of all. If you want to take it for yourself, call us at 888-NEED HIM, because God will never forget what you do with His Son.

audio Dark Christmas Popular

Transcript: There’s an Indian reservation where you can drive miles and miles and see no hint of Christmas; it’s a long darkness with no lights.

But one Christmas Eve, Marcy literally saw the light as she staggered down the village street after another drinking binge. The church there was covered with lights, and she looked up and she saw the cross outlined in lights. A broken woman sought out the pastor’s wife that night and made a life-changing choice. She opened her heart to the Christ of Christmas.

It could be that in the midst of all the lights of Christmas you’re having a pretty dark Christmas: a broken family, a broken relationship, a broken heart, a broken life. It’s in those dark times that so many have found the Savior, the Healer of broken hearts and lives. It’s Jesus, the Rescuer who loved you enough to die for your sins. His Cross is where you’ll find a new beginning. You can experience today these words from the Bible: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2).

Listen, call us at 888-NEED HIM, and find the light in your darkness.

audio A Battlefield Christmas Popular

Transcript: A lot of soldiers are coming home this Christmas, but not Amy. She’s pretty stressed! She just got called up to go to Afghanistan. So as the Christmas displays are lighting up everything, Amy’s leaving for the battlefield.

Well, you know, Jesus knows that feeling. That’s what the Son of God was doing that first Christmas; leaving the safety and glory of heaven, to come to this battlefield where we live. The Bible says, “He became human and made His home among us” (John 1:14). His life began in a stable and ended on a cross by His choice, because He had come to do battle with the monster that ruins so many things—sin. The “all about me” choices we’ve all made because we’ve hijacked our lives from God, and Jesus won when He paid our death penalty on that cross so you could be forgiven and be in heaven some day.

Now the battle is in your soul over whether or not you’ll pin all your hopes on Him. And that battle can be over today if you’ll just say, “Jesus, I’m Yours.” If you want that, call us at 888-NEED HIM. Then the battle’s over and there’s peace in your soul.

audio A Dad For Christmas Popular

Transcript: For one boy at an elementary school in California last Christmas, the school party was one he will never forget. As everyone watched a video greeting from Bobby’s dad who was serving in Iraq, his dad suddenly walked in the room and scooped up Bobby in his arms. He got a father for Christmas!

Now, that’s the gift that could make this the most memorable Christmas of your life. Because we were all made for a Father—the Heavenly Father who created us. No matter what your earthly father was like, we all have this Father-deficit in our hearts. Our recurring loneliness is ultimately a cosmic loneliness; we’re lonely for God. Because, as the Bible says, we’ve all “wandered away from Him like sheep” (Isaiah 53:6). We’re created to belong to God as our loving Father, but we’re missing Him because we’ve cut ourselves off from Him.

Then Jesus came, to go to a cross to die for our sin. On that cross, He said, “Father, forgive them,” and He’s waiting to forgive you this very day if you’ll pin all your hopes on Him. If you’d like today to be your Jesus-day, call us at 888-NEED HIM, and get your Father for Christmas.

audio Arranging the Manger Popular

Transcript: We gave our two-year-old grandson a Christmas present early last year—the “Little People” Nativity. He went right to work pulling out the little plastic characters and animals and then arranging the manger. I loved what he did. He took all the shepherds, and wise men, and cows, and sheep, and made sure they were all facing the manger; all facing Jesus.

That’s really where we all should be for a lifetime—facing Jesus. Because the Bible says about Him, “All things were created by Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16), including you and me. The problem is we’ve all got our backs turned to Him.

The Bible says, “All of us have wandered away from Him like sheep; each of us has turned to His own way” (Isaiah 53:6). This road where we do life our way instead of God’s way leads to a life without meaning and an eternity without hope.

That’s why Christmas. Jesus loves us too much to leave us lost. So He came and died for our sin; for your sin. And you can have the life that He died to give you by facing Jesus and giving yourself to Him. We’re here to talk with you about that at 888-NEED HIM. Come on home.

audio Charlie's Tree and Me Popular

Transcript: Christmases come and Christmases go, but Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree goes on forever; that bare, bedraggled, drooping little tree. But good ol’ Charlie Brown made something out of that tree. I guess you could call it the difference a little love can make.

That’s really what the Christmas story is about, because it’s ultimately a love story. The Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Actually, we are in big trouble with God. We’ve pushed Him out of a life He made and run it our way instead of His. And away from God, life’s meaningless and eternity’s unthinkable. But this God we’ve pushed away loved us too much to leave us lost. That first Christmas, He sent His only Son to absorb all the punishment for all our sin, so we could be with Him now and forever.

There’s no better time than Christmastime to experience Jesus’ amazing love for yourself. If you’re ready for that, call us at 888-NEED HIM, and see what a difference His love can make.

audio Closed Doors at Christmas Popular

Transcript: Two and a half feet of snow had just left a million people without power where we were! We checked into the motel before the storm, but now as I stood at the front desk the phone rang incessantly. The answer was the same every time, “Sorry, no room” click. Those are tough words to hear.

Jesus knows that feeling. The night He came, the inn keeper told His dad, “No room,” and shut the door. Of course it wasn’t the last time Jesus got shut out. A lot of us are so busy and so about running our own life we’re basically saying, “Jesus, I like you, but I just don’t have room for you.” So Jesus can’t get into a life that He died for…maybe yours.

He died to pay for the sin that would cause you to be shut out of heaven. But the Bible says, “To all those who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). If you open the door to the man who died for you, you can be sure He’ll open the door of heaven to you. If you’re ready to belong to Jesus, give us a call at 888-NEED HIM, because no room for Jesus means no chance of heaven.